Feast for Thought

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Ha! The Delhi Government has approved the proposal to provide 20,000 litres of water free of cost to every household per month. Sewer charges were also withdrawn, to mark the 100 day milestone.Delhi needs nearly over 5000 million litres per day. While i agree that water - that good, natural, sweet fuel everyone needs - should remain in the commons, i'd like to know 1. what steps are being taken to reduce / eliminate wastage / misuse / overuse?2. why is RWH not being implemented on war footing?3. why are RO system vendors allowed to indiscriminately / aggressively market their product as the first and last solution to obtain potable water?Delhi should not be pampered any more. The earlier netas and citizens realize this, the better or the entire nation.#DontPamperDelhi

"Delhi’s water demand, according to the DJB, is 4,903 million litres daily (MLD) but the total supply is 3,995 MLD. Of this, according to the Centre for Science and Environment, 52% is lost to leakage.

This projected total demand in 2017 is expected to rise to 5,130 MLD.

Delhi needs additional 80 million gallons water per day (MGD) from Haryana. The Renuka dam in Himachal promises to bring in another 275 MGD in the next decade. Recent reports say Haryana has been not releasing enough water into the Yamuna to maintain production in Delhi, causing officials to panic.

So why such scarcity of water in a city that has flourished for hundreds of years? For centuries, Delhi’s primary source of water used to be its water bodies — wells and ponds. As the population increased, the demand rose, putting pressure on the earlier “ample” water supply. The city had to look for other sources — the Yamuna basin and groundwater.

Now the main source remains surface water from the Yamuna basin from where it gets 735 MGD. With only a slim chance of getting additional river water, groundwater is the only hope. But that too is under threat. Surface water accounts for 88% of the city’s water supply.

The groundwater level has been going down. This means one would have to dig deeper to find water. An analysis of the last 10 years shows the overall groundwater level is going down by .02 to 1.44 metres per year because of increased extraction and reduced natural recharge."(source)

Friday, May 15, 2015

Too many time-bombs ... it's time to update or upgrade journalists' vocabulary.1. E-waste

"Illegal trade is driven by the relatively low costs of shipment and the high costs of treatment in the developed countries. Quoting an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study, the UNEP report says that exporting e-waste to Asia worked out 10 times cheaper than processing it in within these countries.

The Indian subcontinent has turned into an important destination for European waste. This goes beyond e-waste to include household waste, metals, textiles and tires — which are exported to India and Pakistan, says the report “Waste Crimes, Waste Risks: Gaps and Challenges in the Waste Sector.”

“There is a significant trade in compressors to Pakistan. These should be depolluted prior to export, but waste operators seeking to avoid expense often omit this step,” the report notes.

The vast majority of illegal e-waste ends up in landfills, incinerators, and in ill-equipped recycling facilities. “The waste is dumped in areas where local residents and workers disassemble the units and collect whatever is of value... What is not reusable is simply dumped as waste, creating immense problems and leading to what has been described as a ‘toxic time bomb’.”"

"Over 6,000 tonne of plastic waste generated every day in the country remains uncollected and littered and only 60% of the more than 15,000 tonne of plastic waste is recycled daily, says a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) survey report.

The survey was on Wednesday submitted by additional solicitor general Mohan Jain before the Supreme Court that expressed shock at the pile-up of plastic waste.

“It’s frightening. We are sitting on a time bomb. All the rivers will die in the next 10 years,” noted a bench headed by Justice GS Singhvi.

The bench’s observation came during the hearing of gutka manufacturers’ plea challenging the ban on sale of pan masala containing tobacco.

"Air pollution in India has assumed endemic proportions and brooks no complacency. With a World Health Organisation study ranking Delhi as the world’s most polluted city and identifying 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities as being in India, we ought to sit up and act on a war footing.

Last year, the Environmental Preference Index ranked India 174 out of 178 countries for air quality, reflecting the dismal performance in this sector. Evidently, this has been the case for so long without our batting an eyelid.

There is a sense of apathy that is amazing, considering that our lives and our future are involved. Hardly any one takes the central and state governments to task.

It is a sad commentary on the callous attitude of our political dispensation and our persistent neglect of our environmental concerns that the data we are now planning to put out in 10 major cities has been available to us for years and we made virtually no use of it. There can be little doubt that at this rate, a time bomb is ticking away for us" (source)

4. Water

a) "...woes of Delhi Water supply ... it applies to most Indian cities. For instance, Bangalore is sitting on a water time bomb with all kinds of issues.

They point how Delhi which had good quality of water in 1950s has such poor quality now:

In the early 1950s, the quality of urban water services in Delhiwas similar to the best of other major urban centres of Asia. In fact, in 1950, shortly after the second World War, water provisioning in Delhi was better than Tokyo or Osaka. At that time, Tokyo was losing nearly 85 per cent of its water through leakages and poor maintenance. Even at the beginning of the 1960s, Delhi’s water supply was similar to that of Singapore and better than Bangkok, Manila or Phnom Penh.

Many Asian cities such as Bandar Seri Begawan, Bangkok, Colombo, Manila, Phnom Penh and Singapore have improved their water services significantly in the post-1970 period. Sadly, Delhi’s services have been on a downward spiral. Currently, all the above cities are providing their inhabitants with 24 hours of clean water that can be drunk straight from the taps. In contrast, less than two-thirds of the Delhi households are lucky to receive even one to three hours of water that is not even drinkable without additional treatment at home.

Slightly more than a decade ago, Delhi residents used simple carbon filters to purify city water before drinking. Currently, the quality has so worsened that an average Delhi household uses membranes and reverse osmosis before they can dare to drink city water.

And these RO purifiers are worsening the problem in whichever cities they are used. Nearly 50% of water is wasted in the process.

Let us compare Singapore and Delhi, which had similar levels of water and drainage services for monsoon rains around 1960. When Singapore became independent in 1965, the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew realised that water was a strategic resource for national development. Singapore formulated long-term urban water management plans, and Prime Minister Lee insisted on getting a monthly report on the progress of the water situation until he retired in 1990. In a private discussion, he told us that he had three experts in his office who regularly assessed all major development decisions through the lens of water before they could be approved.

Not surprisingly, with such high-level continuous political support, within 20 years Singapore become one of the best examples of urban water and wastewater management in the world." (source)

b) "A UN report has described India’s water pollution situation as a “time-bomb” while praising social activist Anna Hazare’s village Ralegan Siddhi for using the scarce commodity in a rationale manner.

In a stinging remark on water administration in India, the report says India is able to treat just 10 % of its city sewage and industrial waste discharge, the most polluting source for rivers and water bodies.

“Presently, only about 10% of the waste water generated is treated; the rest is discharged as is into our water bodies. Due to this, pollutants enter rivers, lakes and the groundwater,” the Unicef’s water situation in India – situation and prospects report said.

The report also said the drinking water, which ultimately ends up in our households, is often highly contaminated and carries disease-causing microbes. And, its victims are mostly children. Government studies have shown that a major cause of under-five child mortality was water-borne diseases.

The report highlighted that water source for over half of the Indians living in two major river basis — Ganga and Brahmaputra — was highly contaminated. An evidence of that was rising number of arsenic-affected areas in Bihar and West Bengal despite the government spending crore of rupees. Situation in rich agriculture areas of India’s wheat bowl — Haryana and Punjab — is no better with high pesticide contamination.

The report said there was no model in India that shows best ways to tackle the waste water generated through the industrial and domestic sectors.

The only saving grace presented in the report was example of Hazare’s village. The report said there was evidence to suggest that employing certain management principles as in Ralegan Siddhi and Hiwre Bazar can improve water situation and check contamination." (source)

5. Construction

"India's construction time bomb threatens thousands.

It's not just Delhi; decrepit constructions that don't conform to safety codes are a big problem in cities and towns across India, says Chandan Ghosh, from the Indian home ministry's National Institute of Disaster Management. He has surveyed Delhi's structures for decades, and says most break basic building regulations. He says the problem is so pervasive that enforcement has become impossible.

The Delhi residential block that caved in on June 28 was built on a plot barely 19 square yards. With no pillars or beams to support its floors, it collapsed after neighbors starting removing earth to re-build their own house.

Safety codes prescribe at least 150 square yards of land is required to construct a standard apartment, explains Ghosh.

Buildings in Indian cities are often unplanned and strung together in cramped rows, without space between them. Experts say this can be disastrous if one is more structurally vulnerable than the others. Owners of buildings often sell off parts of these buildings to individuals, who then construct extensions.

"This type of housing is not unauthorized but remains extremely dangerous," says Ghosh. "Unfortunately, it's mushrooming all over without checks and balances."

With rapid urbanization occurring since India liberalized its economy in the 1990s, New Delhi's population has grown exponentially to almost 17 million -- more than 21% in the past decade, census figures show.

To make matters worse, Indian authorities believe the Indian capital is vulnerable to seismic activity. In 1999, an 6.5 magnitude earthquake some 173 miles (280 kilometers) from Delhi caused some damage to buildings in the city, but raised fears about the potential harm from another temblor of similar intensity happening nearer. It's a "disaster waiting to happen," according to Ghosh.

According to Delhi's disaster-management department website, "Pockets with high-rise buildings or ill-designed high-risk areas exist without specific consideration of earthquake resistance. Similarly, unplanned settlements with sub-standard structures are also prone to heavy damage even in moderate shaking."

Yet people have to continue to put themselves at risk because they've nowhere else to go.

In May 2014 a new Government assumed charge at the Centre, in India's national capital Delhi, with a brute majority. A few decades of (dysfunctional) coalition politics had the experts saying that India can no longer see single-party rule, but the voters knew better.In Feb 2015, a new Government assumed charge in India's national capital Delhi, with a clean 'sweep' of 67 of 70 seats.In the years prior to 2014, both the local and central governments were (mis)managed - for long - by a different crowd led by India's GOP, and the bureaucracy can still be seen to be well-tuned in that style of functioning.In all this while, the national capital was galloping towards the position of No 1. Not in Governance. Not in Sustainability. Not in Women's Safety.In pollution, India's national capital, far outperformed every other place in this wide wide world and beyond. Far worse than the visible pollution (vehicle exhaust, factory fumes) is the invisible killer - toxic levels of PM2.5 and PM10. ("Delhi’s grim distinction is that it has even higher levels of PM10, as well as of the smaller particulates, PM2.5, that are more likely to kill because they go deeper into the lungs. Levels of PM2.5 in Delhi are routinely 15 times above levels considered safe by the World Health Organisation. New data suggest that, on this score, Delhi’s air has been 45% more polluted than that of the Chinese capital for the past couple of years".)With a brute majority, even possibly populated with several 'brutes', the central and local governments, between them, have the power- to curb the irrational, far-beyond-the-city's-capacity proliferation of vehicles,- to regulate polluting industries, including under-performing, but toxic power plants- to enforce staggering o working hours- to aggressively improve and impose means of public transportation- to take the people into confidence, work with citizen groups, RWA's and NGO's to make the process of implementation of tough measures appear less brutal.And the people of Delhi? Other than history buffs and those who respect land, water, nature, clean air - wherever they live - Delhi is populated by people who haven't lost any love on their monster city ("MONSTROCITY"). They spit, they love their polythene and polystyrene, they consume like gluttons (Amrica does too, you see), their pets suffer from obesity, they own their roads.. (Oh the sense of ownership of the roads - Delhiites, both citizens and law-keepers fiercely defend their rights on road usage).Delhi after all has a history of 'takers', hardly any 'givers', whether it is Lutyen's Delhi, or any of the 2000+ illegal colonies, or any of the bizarre sub-cities and satellite townships that mushroomed during the past couple of decades, in the name of Holy Progress and Pious Development.With no one to heed the voice of the environment, a minuscule number of concerned citizens, individually or through support groups, notably the NGT, have been trying to raise the common issue of air pollution - which of course affects the 'cursed' have-nots in far worse ways then the 'blessed' haves. What do the power-wielders say? It is easy to gauge attitudes from the responses.

Sheila Dikshit, who was the chief minister of Delhi from 1998-2013, said, “You have to understand that there are various lobbies. If auto manufacturers have buyers, for them it looks unfair that we are stopping their growth. On the other hand, the air quality has become worse. Unless there’s a collective decision and the lobbies come together for the good of the people, nothing can be done. I find it a little disappointing. We have been through it, innumerable meetings with the lobbies. Because we, the people of Delhi, were the most disturbed by it.” (source)

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar: It is good that the media is highlighting the issue. This would force local authorities to take urgent action to curb pollution. (source)(emphasis added)

AAP is committed to work for the well being of the people and our country. Every issue is important to us. Although pollution does not feature in Delhi dialogues, we are committed to look into this serious issue. Sure, we will take inputs from all concerned departments and take appropriate steps to bring down pollution levels. Team AAP

What the media says:

"Death by Breath: What’s happening to Delhi air will have you gasping for breath"

"Faced with growing concern about the toxicity of Delhi’s air and suggestions than it was more polluted at times than smog-ridden Beijing, India’s government came up with a solution: take more air quality measurements.... For now though, the best weapon against pollution is accurate data". (source)

Thursday, March 26, 2015

In the course of a couple of decades of 'nomadic' travel all over India, we have lived in a fair number states / cities / rural areas.

Places as diverse as rural Nashik, NCR Delhi, beautiful Srinagar, busy Bangalore, suburban Coimbatore, unheard-of Misamari have been our homes at different points of time between the early '90s and now.

So there has been a fair mix of metro-life, small city-life and living in rural locations. And if anyone were interested in asking us to choose between the three, rural living would win hands down.

The common thread that links India's rural areas is a heady combination of Nature-Culture-Agriculture.
Nature is still visible at all times of day and night, not obscured by poisonous air, concrete, steel and glass.
Rich culture is evident too; traditional practices thrive in homes and fields.
And the fields - they speak to you of the bounty that regularly fill and refill India's granaries.

To a safely ensconced but empathetic, concerned armchair activist-individual like me, this scene is idyllic enough. And so for the life of me, i can't imagine why people in government don a blindfold when it comes to the question of preserving and nurturing rural livelihoods.

Our rural areas could do with better local self-management / governance, better recognition of the role of rural livelihoods in the national fabric, and a certain amount of necessary infrastructure (not luxury amenities). With these systems in place, there is no reason why city-dwellers (whose noses are not stuck too far above among the ozone molecules) shouldn't rethink and relocate.

Sane, simple, sustainable solutions stare us in the face,
But the blindfold seems to be firmly held in place!

No amount of pompous proclamations from bullet-proofed ramparts or well-organized political platforms will be able to obscure such realities as these:
- Whether NH 37 or NH 47, the smaller towns and villages are literally bypassed. Take the design of the cross roads at busy junctions under flyovers. Above, vehicles zip past at speeds of over 100, but down below are several blind spots, inaccessible footpaths, gravel strewn unfinished roads, and unregulated growth in number of vehicles.
- The plastic habit, junk foods and wily exploiters have easily reached rural India far faster than potable water, electricity or conscientious administrators.
- Yes, Bharat matches India in haphazard traffic. The more prosperous rural folk care less than two hoots for civic responsibilities, and would easily merge with their thoughtless city brethren.
- Rural India too reels from SWmM - Solid Waste Mis-Management. Directives have reached circle officers from district headquarters to 'identify suitable spots for landfills', not for say 'strict implementation of waste segregation at source and facilitation of recycling centres'.

Rural hai magar shaant hai. In the company of birds and birdsong all day long (we don't mind the owls either), dark enough / deep enough / dense enough 'woods', green fields just yonder, with whole families out working along with the soil, taking care o the land that cares for them... yes, i could stay put, pitch in however i can, and ultimately blend in too.

You can't call Delhi a metro/city any more. It's a monstrosity. And that's where we are headed. :( Again. :( :(

Sunday, February 15, 2015

A
visit to Guwahati is said to be incomplete without logging your attendance at
thekAmakhyA temple. Another popular shrine is theumAnandatemple on the Brahmaputra.

After avoiding a visit for so long (B has been generous with his graphic
descriptions of the temples, their ambience, the surroundings, the hoary
history), i finally 'logged' the two places in February. (I say logged also
because we gave the sanctum sanctorums at both
the temples a miss).

It
truly is blissful to enter a temple without a bag, a phone and the ego. This
time the bliss ended there.

What
is the footprint we left there? Some CO2, and several teardrops.

What
did we takeaway? No prasAd, no holy forehead markings, only too many
unfortunate impressions - 1. Bleating kids and goats awaiting their turn to
be sacrificed to appease the deity / please the purohit / satisfy an ego /
satiate several tummies as 'prasAd'. Heart-wrenching. Blood could be seen
flowing freely, so did my tears.2. Rough and tough saffron-clad Pandas (purohits),
no different from predatory touts, waiting for brand new visitors, to whom they
can sell their services by conducting them through the entire complex - for a
price. (And yes, there is a VIP entry possible too). 3. The multitude of pigeons clinging to the lovey
rock faces and sculptures, pigeons and doves of all hues probably awaiting
nightfall and a few hours of freedom from teeming humans. (The white ones are
mostly smeared with some vermilion-coloured chemical)4. Despite sign boards that caution you against
taking pictures, everyone is busy recording their holiness against
vanity-bolstering backdrops. 5. Our son caught between my silent, near-grieving,
observance of this facet of 'Hinduism' and his agnostic-father's quite
vociferous, realistic descriptions of publicised displays of devotion.

The approach to umAnanda
temple is very scenic. Ferries ply between MG Road and the temple located on an
island yonder. Here too, touts ensure that your passage to the temple is
anything but peaceful.

1.A
mainland agent transfers you to a ferry agent, who in turns ties up with the
ferry operator. (Though the Govt-operated ferries charge a very nominal Rs 10
one way, they are simply not available).

2.Well-shod
tourists munching snacks (no marks for guessing where the trash went) reach the
ferry for a brief session of selfies and groupfies ahead of reaching the
temple.

3.A
couple of men are busy filling near-white sands in sacks, presumably for
legitimate purposes.

4.No,
there were no life jackets made available, despite rules that exist as a consequence of several tragedies that routinely happened all over the country.

5.It’s
a precarious transfer from the ghat to the ferry in the mainland and the
island.

6.Just
adjacent to the sanctum, happy but indifferent families enjoy a ‘picnic’

A learned friend had
recently described his impressions after a visit to the holyMansa Devi temple.

"Yesterday I
went to the famous Mansa Devi temple in the outskirts of Chandigarh. It's a
very prosperous shrine, and of course is visited by several lakhs of devotees
every year. After paying respect, I went to the 'langar' which devout pilgrims
treat it as a 'prashad'. I was appalled to see the unhygienic conditions in
which food is prepared and served. The quality of rice was much worse than what
is available under PDS. Cooked vegetables served were not worth it. Looking
at the shabby condition of the water purifier
and the wash basins, I avoided drinking water. And when I went to the washroom,
there is nothing worse that I have seen. Not only terribly stinking, the toilet
seats were overflowing with solid waste. The urine pots were leaking and the
floor had layers of urine all around. This makes me wonder why the religious
outfits never launch a drive to clean these shrines and to keep it always clean
and 'swachch". Didn't Mahatma Gandhi say: "Cleanliness is next to
God"."

i am convinced that the
trusts and trustees of our temples, (whether famous / infamous / nondescript)
must devote time and resources at creating and reinforcing awareness of
cleanliness first and cleanliness last. Everything else can wait. Most temples
are rich enough, surely. Varying degrees, and maybe slightly different
takeaways, but i think i've exited the temples at Guruvayoor, Tirupati,
Mathura, Brindavan, Kheer Bhawani, besides innumerable ones in Tamizh nAdu with
more misgivings than quiet contentment. When will we begin to think of overcoming
Hinduism’s external trappings? It is possible: sanAtana dharma provides
individualised, customised private paths to hasten slowly.

The only temples that offer
a clean and peaceful ambience imo are those in rural KeraLa that make do with
dedicated local care-takers and limited income. (Polythene has invaded
though).

On the one hand we have
ancient temples languishing in utter neglect all over our country, with
half-hearted information and cautionary 'Protected Monument' signboards.

Then we have these popular
holy destinations that have somehow embedded themselves as boon-fulfilling
pilgrim centres, but in reality are monstrous, commercial, exploiting,
businesses, replete with graded darshan queues, plastic merchandise,
suspicious-looking prasAd, and dubious pujAris.

And then we also have
magnificent 5-star temple complexes replete with prasAd / food courts built
more to glorify a sect than as places for divinity to reside.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Ahead of the Durga Puja, the Goddess was 'helping' sell everything from luxury lats to trendy accessories, even shampoo. (Do businesses employ symbols of other faiths too, during festival seasons as marketing agents and salespeople... Do they dare?)

Ahead of Durga Puja, also, the Goddess bestowed one form of bounty - copious torrents of the life-giving liquid - water. This time through a cloudburst in India NE. City floods are quite common now, we know, thanks to rampant urbanization and poor solid waste management. Clueless administration demands Central aid, money changes hands from and to clueless Govts, grandiose plans and disaster relief measures get announced (with the media coverage directly proportional to the product of the estimated losses and the promised relief bounty).

Floods in rural areas are as devastating too. When vast open fields end up inundated, there are short and long term losses too.

Here is a good account of one of the series of 'blessings' - "Palanquin belief & grisly reality - Almanac says Durga’s arrival on a palki spells doom; professor lists reasons for calamity" (Pictures taken at a place called Sonapur under "Dimoria development block of Guwahati sub-division, an area of Kamrup(Metro) district with hill and plain. It is extended between latitude 26°10' N and longitude 91° 45'E and its approximate altitude is 55m above MSL The temperature ranges from 6°-38°C, average rainfall is 1,600 mm per yr and the relative humidity is 76.6%. A tributary Digaru is flowing through the heart of town. The geographical area of Dimoria development block is 261.64 km2 of which, an area of 16.58 km2 is under forest. As per 2001 census, total population is 1,19,584".

"बाढ़ में जा !" is a common "Get lost!" expression. Viewing and hearing
reports of J&K floods, and seeing and experiencing Assam floods will prevent
people from using this expression even against enemies, let alone fellow living, loving beings.

So the India NE floods didn’t make much of a news item for mainstream media. Trending these days were foolishness at Delhi zoo, bitter and petty seat-sharing
brawls in Maharashtra , and of course the brainless antics of a publicity-mad newspaper and one of its page 3, equally brainless bestsellers...

Happy that Mangalyaan carried on, relentless in its onward
journey.... the only true representation of undaunted optimism.

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Don't these queries make you curious at least, even if they have not created any consternation in you?

If you visit the Thengapattinam Beach between Trivandrum and Kanyakumari, you can see solid concrete octopods (core locs) - thousands of them being stacked to build seawalls and breakwaters to protect the fishing harbour. It turns out that ports and coastal structures are being built along India 5400 km long coastline without getting to know enough about the coastal dynamics.

Cdr Puthur has suggested a theory of how coasts get formed and get eroded, in clear language and with convincing logic. Travel along the coastline "long necklace ornamented with beautiful wave-lashed beaches, with sands white, brown, golden and glittering black" with Cdr Puthur and Google Earth. If you love the beach and the vast open sea, you must undertake this journey to realise that beaches are eroding, and may completely disappear in the not too distant future.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Crows are intelligent birds. All you need is a few minutes of your time and plenty of patience to observe the creature foraging for tidbits. I could do just that for a whole hour when I visited a popular beach in the Kovalam stretch on a mildly sunny Sunday morning in February. Several tourists reached the beach and set about such a routine - spread a beach towel or mat, leave belongings, use another towel to lightly 'hide' them, before heading seaward.

My subject crow waited in the wings, hopped down from a perch, stepped and jumped on the sand to reach one set of spread-out stuff, and tilted the head to delicately peck at the covering towel to try and look for the right kind of stuff - if any - left by the careful tourists. Did I say I watched patiently? The crow beat me at that - he exhibited due diligence, patience and perseverance while looking for what he wanted.

But this post is not about this crow or any other. This is about a different kind of patience that both fascinated and shamed me. A family of three stepped into the water, each parent automatically taking turns at watching out for their young child, who would alternate between adding 'brick and mortar' to her sand castle, and playing in the shallow waves.

This post is not about this child either. This post is about one of her parents.

Even as I watched the crow, the child, the tourists' (by-now familiar) routine (prepare spot on beach, wade into the water, wade out in a while, lie down to sunbathe), I could not help but notice that particular tourist - the parent - make several trips in and out of the water. Each trip back from the water saw the parent hold a short stick, with something hanging at one end, reach the adjacent rocky ledge (the ledge serves as the access to the Kovalam tourism police post) deposit the item, walk back into the waves, and repeat this sequence. In between trips, the parent forgot neither to help out with the child, nor to have the pleasure of wading and swimming in the waves. After all, that is the purpose for which many tourists make a beeline to tropical shores - to escape extreme winter elsewhere in our country and in the world.

Back to the parent. I counted 21 trips. Then I gave up. Convinced that this parent cared for the child, and cared equally well if not more for the kind of world in which that child was growing.

If one tourist can try to fish out rubbish from the sea trip after patient trip - all in the course of a brief morning sojourn to the beach - in the hope of trying to 'clean up' a portion of the beach to be used by the child, imagine the enormity of our individual and collective responsibility.

We - each of us - have to stop dumping waste as we please

We also have to start cleaning the mess to which we have collectively contributed.“Many of the fishermen here have been telling that recently, more than fish, it’s plastic that gets caught in their nets,” he said, pointing out that with more efforts on from various quarters to pump the city’s waste into the sea, shoreline fishing was being made a sitting duck for the ill-effects of all kinds of pollution, and not just plastic." [Quoting from "A turtle’s tryst with waste" (local newspaper report dated 8 Feb 2014)]

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Indian cities have been trying hard at developing into
clones of big cities across the world, and succeeding. (Aside: In the matter of
solid waste management they are just clones of each other). Bangalore was a
laid back garden city till about a couple of decades ago, even though it was the
aerospace-cum-electronics hub of India. If we put together all the pros and
cons of living comfort, standards of living, and quality of life, we will find
that the present Bengaluru has unfortunately lost its overall charm.

We have let globalisation and technological revolutions
invade our urban spaces and our mind spaces so much, and at too fast a pace,
that entire sections of urban residents have forgotten to pause, look around,
smell the earth, and think of whole lots of other people to whom globalisation
has meant deprivation, more financial burden and regress.

An area of the city, 8 Jan 2003 imagery

Same area 27 Jan 2013 imagery

Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) is a uniquely endowed,
endearing, overgrown village. But it is increasingly obvious that this city is
also hurtling down the ‘progress and development’ path blindly, with foolhardy
zeal and no imagination whatsoever. Think of the city 20 to 30 years from now:
only more glass facades, more high-rise match boxes marring the green skyline,
and humongous concrete masses looking down on snarling traffic, tempers adding
heat to treeless avenues...

Mahatma Gandhi is said to have termed the city of Trivandrum
as “Evergreen city of India”, blessed as it is with plenty of tree cover, and
nestled on small hills between the Western Ghats and the coast.

It is evident that with globalisation, newer technologies
and industries invade and take over / overtake the very thought processes of a
city and end up thrusting a narrow concept of development. Prosperity and well-being of a city starts to be
measured against such yardsticks as ‘world-class’ infrastructure and the upward
mobility of city residents. The public have also been manipulated and steadily
moulded to believe in advertised images and perceptions of what is desirable.
The unnatural creation and projection of images of perfection and desirability
by the media, advertising, marketing firms, and authorities who tout ‘global
standards’ delude the masses into believing that their locality and the city
will attain that kind of picture-perfection - if they have wider roads, bigger
buildings, more indoor comfort and malls in which to ‘chill out’. (Parks and
gardens aren’t ‘cool’ enough, you see).

If you stand on a stretch of
MG Road, you can easily forget that it is MG Road, Thiruvananthapuram; it could
be MG Road, any other city. Do we need that kind of development that swallows a
city’s original character? Nearly all of India’s metropolitan areas and urban
spaces have gone that way. Cities have expanded to encompass suburban areas and
have become nightmares to residents and the already (mostly) clueless
administrators. Delhi’s tentacles extend to several sub-cities, Mumbai grows
into the sea leaving its heart far behind, Chennai pincodes have grown to
600117 and Bangalore’s now joyless veins clutch outer villages. Why is
Ananthapuri being compelled to follow those models?

Heritage structures and rich,
green spaces on Government-owned land should be left intact, preserved for
posterity while possibly serving some public purpose.

All the remaining green and
open spaces within city limits – precious few of them – should serve as
well-maintained oxygen pockets.

We need to reclaim, revamp
and take care of public places that had had grandiose plans bestowed on them by
successive Governments.

Why can’t we - concerned city
residents – play a role in defining our vision for the city, guided by the
principles of aesthetics, abundant local wisdom, heritage preservation and
Nature conservation?

In this context, it is good
to note the introduction of programmes like the new Urban Design Master’s
course offered at the CET, Trivandrum. Let us hope that such courses inculcate
a holistic, long-term vision for cities. The budding future town planners
should realize that there is much more at stake than the fortunes of the brick
and mortar industry.

A city’s growth lies not in
numbers of Big Retail, multiple ‘brandnamas’, outsize cars, cooler and swankier
malls, but in the numbers of residents who feel proud and happy about the right
things – health, clean air, welcoming public places, mind-invigorating outlook
of fellow-citizens. We must preserve what is left of the city’s character. Even
if it means calling a stop to mindless real-estate expansion and ridiculous
numbers of car dealerships.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

See the picture that shows Charadupinnikkali or Urikkali (cord-plaiting dance). This is a life-size exhibit at the Koyikkal Palace near Nedumangad. Picasa Google rather likes the complexions, and asks who they are. If you fancy any of the four profiles, claim it, and I'll let Picasa know.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Flaminco? Flamingo? Flamenco!"Spanish
FlamincoKalaripayattu Fusion" and "Spanish FlamincoCarnatic Fusion", reads the grand Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi announcement about an event that was scheduled to take place at the Co-bank Auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram, during the recently concludedIFFK 2013.Having heard of the SpanishFlamenco, and with suitable expectations, we seated ourselves; among other 'expectant' audience. On stage was just the traditional lamp.

Item Number 1: The singer has a mike, but he stands close to the dancer
and, cheek-to-cheek, he chants a few mantras. There are no props on stage, but the 5-ft traditional brass lamp that both artistes light together. The dancer’s
costume is a simple 2 piece garment, and her style is a mix of Bharathanatyam
and Kathakali.

Item Number 2: The dancer has changed into a flowing gown; a Spanish
guitarist and drummer join them on stage. The singer croons Tulasi-daLa mula in
a format nowhere near the classic rendition of that popular Tygaraja kriti. The
dancer’s routine includes several mudras, footsteps, and yoga postures. The
anupallavi is followed by a Spanish song, and the kriti resumes. The dancer has
now adjusted her gown length, and performs more steps with a new prop: a
cape-like shawl.

Item Number 3: The next piece is a Hindi bhajan. The slim dancer is now
attired in an off-white skirt and half-blouse, and she performs more steps that
reveal well-rehearsed combinations of classic hand gestures and dance steps.

About the performance:

“The Voice of the Body is a
performance by the Spanish dancer Mónica de la Fuente and Ravi
Prasad, a musician and artistic director from Kerala, in which an
invisible thread intertwines two bodies on stage that vibrate in unison. Breath
becomes sound, voice and song, movement, gesture and mudra. The show explores
the seed that evokes each emotion, weaving voice into body in search of the
connections between voice and body. The invention of new vocal codes shapes new
contemporary languages, sounds that illustrate each tension or action created
by the movement of different forms of expression. Movement flows among
classical codes of the performing arts of India and the spontaneous creation of
others.

In this space for exploring the various
languages of both sound and movement, connections and unexpected encounters
take place which allow the richness of each expression to be savoured and
reveal the paths of cultural encounters. Flamenkarnatic stems from the
encounter and exchange between artists from India (Ravi Prasad) and Spain
(Mónica de la Fuente as dancer, José Salinas as singer and Carlos Blanco on the
guitar) who, rather than create a ‘collage’ of virtuosity, seek to delve into
the deepest roots and find these expressions which are the ‘mothers of the
dance and music of all ages’, as García Lorca stated. This concert is an
intercultural journey undertaken by the gypsy tradition of Flamenco in Spain
into its Indian roots along a path that returns to the south of India in an
emotional encounter between Flamenco music, voices, Carnatic and Hindustani
compositions and Flamenco dancing techniques.”

(Apparently, the show premiered in
2012 in India. See “Twain in tune”. There is no post-performance review
though. Why?)So now you know. That we witnessed neither flamingos in flight nor the Spanish Flamenco. But why did the KSNA, not pay attention to this by-no-means-small detail in their announcements?